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THE LEHIGH UNIVERSITY, 

ASA PACKER. FOUNDER. 



EXERCISES AT THE CELEBRATION 



OF THE 



FOUNDER*S-DAY 



THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14, I88O, 



WITH THE 



MEMORIAL ADDRESS 



V>Y THE 



HON. THOMAS F. BAYARD, 

OF DELAWARE. 



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With the Compliments of 

R. A. LAMBERTON. 



THE LEHIGH UNIVERSITY, 

ASA PACKER. FOUNDER. 



EXERCISES AT THE CELEBRATION 



OF THE 



FOUNDER'S-DAY 



THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1880, 



WITH THE 



MEMORIAL ADDRESS 



BY THE 



HON. THOMAS F. BAYARD, 

OF DELAWARE. 



READING, PA.: 
Press of B. F. Owen, 515, 517 Court Street, 

1880. 






The Hon. Asa Packer, of Mauch Chunk, appropriated during his life 
nearly one million of dollars for the purpose of founding an institution of 
learning. To the end that it might be open to all, he declared the instruction 
to be forever Free. It was named by him "The Lehigh University," 
and was incorporated by the Legislature of Pennsylvania in 1866. 

After his death, which occurred on the 17th of May, 1879, :t was found 
that he had bequeathed to it by his will the sum of two millions of dollars. 
Of this most generous bequest, a million and a-half were to be applied to the 
general endowment of the University ; and half a million to establish and 
maintain a Library, the beautiful edifice for which he had caused to be 
erected during his life, and had dedicated as a memorial to his daughter, 
Mrs. Lucy Packer Linderman. 

Such munificence has excited profound admiration and evoked the liveliest 
gratitude ; it claims a lasting remembrance. As tending to this purpose it 
was resolved that the second Thursday in October of every year should be 
observed in his honor, with appropriate exercises, as Founder' s-D ay. The 
first celebration took place the ninth of October, 1879. 



tiEW YORK PUBL. LIBR. 
IN BSCBANOB* 



EXERCISES. 



At eleven o'clock A. M. on the fourteenth day of 
October, 1880, the Trustees, Faculty, Alumni, Students 
and invited guests, with the Hon. Thomas F. Bayard 
of Delaware, who had accepted the invitation to de- 
liver the address, met at the University Memorial 
Library, and in procession went to the Drawing Room 
of Packer Hall. 

A scripture lesson was read and prayers were said 
by the Rt. Rev. M. A. DeWolfe Howe, D.D., LL.D., 
Bishop of Central Pennsylvania. 

President Lamberton then introduced to the lar^e 
audience Senator Bayard, who was received with great 
applause and who delivered the Memorial Address. 

The music was by Hassler's Orchestra. 

In the afternoon the Annual Sports of the Univer- 
sity Athletic Association were held in the Association 
grounds. 

In the evening there was an exhibition of Fireworks 
in the University Park. 

At a meeting of the Trustees in the afternoon, a 
resolution of thanks to Senator Bayard for his admi- 
rable address was unanimously adopted, and he was 
earnestly requested to furnish it for printing and 
preservation. 



MEMORIAL SERVICE. 



MUSIC. 

SCRIPTURE LESSON. 
Ecclesiasticus XL IV. to v. 16. 

i. Let us now praise famous men, and our fathers that begat us. 

2. The Lord hath wrought great glory by them, through his 
great power from the beginning. 

3. Such as did bear rule in their kingdoms, men renowned for 
their power, giving counsel by their understanding, and declaring 
prophecies ; 

4. Leaders of the people by their counsels, and by their know- 
ledge of learning meet for the people, wise and eloquent in their 
instructions ; 

5. Such as found out musical tunes, and recited verses in 
writing ; 

6. Rich men furnished with ability, living peaceably in their 
habitations ; 

7. All these were honored in their generations, and were the 
glory of their times. 

8. There be of them that have left a name behind them, that 
their praises might be reported. 

9. (And some there be which have no memorial ; who are per- 
ished as though they had never been born, and their children after 
them.) 

10. But these were merciful men, whose righteousness hath not 
been forgotten. 

11. With their seed shall continually remain a good inheritance, 
and their children are within the Covenant. 



12. Their seed standeth fast, and their children for their sakes. 

13. Their seed shall remain for ever, and their glory shall not 
be blotted out. 

14. Their bodies are buried in peace; but their name liveth for 
evermore. 

15. The people will tell of their wisdom, and the Congregation 
will show forth their praise. 

The Lord be with you. 
And with thy spirit. 

PRAYERS. 
Our Father, who art in Heaven, Hallowed be Thy Name. Thy 
kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, As it is in heaven. 
Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, 
As we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into 
temptation ; But deliver us from evil : For Thine is the kingdom, 
and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen. 

O Lord, we glorify Thee in Thy Servant, our illustrious Bene- 
factor, now departed out of this life, who through zeal for God's 
glory, and earnest desire for the good of His children, founded and 
endowed this University ; beseeching Thee, that as he for his time 
bestowed charitably the good things which Thou didst give him, 
so we for our time, may use the same, to the benefit of mankind, 
and to the setting forth of Thy Holy Name and Word ; and 
finally that we together with him, may remain with Thee in glory, 
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

Almighty God, the Fountain of all wisdom, we ask Thy guidance 
and blessing for all on whom rests the duty of directing the affairs 
of this University. Give to its Trustees the fidelity and wisdom 
and earnestness, which so great a work demands, that they may 
execute their office duly, to the honor of God and the benefit of 
men. Give to its Instructors of every rank, diligence to acquire, 
and skill to impart, useful knowledge — and power of influence to 
awaken the young men committed to their care, to a just sense of 
the value of sound learning, and an eager use of their faculties, 
in its pursuit. Replenish all with the wisdom that cometh from 
above, that they may receive the crown of everlasting life, through 
the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 



O God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom every 
family in Heaven and Earth is named, we humbly beseech Thee to 
take into Thy special protection, the past students of this Univer- 
sity ; preserve their bodies in health, their minds in vigor and 
their persons in safety, for the discharge of their several duties. 
Cheer them by the comfort of Thy constant Presence ; let brotherly 
love continue among them; and help them so to follow Thy blessed 
Saints in all virtuous and godly living, that they may come to those 
unspeakable joys which Thou hast prepared for all who love and 
fear Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 

We beseech Thee, O Lord, to bless the going out and coming 
in of the dwellers in this College ; to keep them in purity and 
health ; to send Thy holy Angels to be their defence ; to drive 
away darkness ; to grant them Thy light ; to give them diligence 
and understanding ; to bless them in all they do ; to enrich them 
with all the works of faith and charity ; and to compass them with 
Thy loving favor as with a shield, through Jesus Christ our Lord. 
Amen. 

The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God, and 
the fellowship of the Holy Ghost be with us all evermore. Amen. 



ADDRESS. 



This is the day of commemoration of the foundation 
of this University, and as its existence sprang- from 
the mind and heart of one man, in his honor the anni- 
versary is justly styled " The Founder's-Day." 

When the invitation to deliver an address was ex- 
tended to me by the faculty of this institution, I was 
already much engrossed by the active occupations of 
an American citizen with the calls of private and 
professional duty, and to them superadded duties of 
a public nature connected with grave political events 
now pending for decision before the people of the 
United States. 

In justice, therefore, to those from whom the invita- 
tion emanated, as well as to myself, I hesitated to 
incur a responsibility, for the proper fulfilment of 
which I knew there was but little time for preparation, 
and which demanded a serene, may I not almost say 
sublimated, tone of thought and feeling, for which the 
heated atmosphere of a political canvass was, to say 
the least, not favorable. 

But against this arrayed itself the consciousness of 
the debt which as an American citizen I owed the 
memory of the dead man, whose munificence is so 
beautifully attested by the stately edifices that sur- 



IO 

round us here, and the work of whose worthy life is 
destined to survive and flourish, to his immortal honor 
and the advancement and welfare of his race. 

The never-ending conflict between the forces of 
good and evil in this life often causes the best-inten- 
tioned champions of the former to fall into confusion 
and mistake. In the smoke and din of the combat, 
a foe may be mistaken for a friend, and like night- 
attacks in military history, assault may be made upon 
the wrong party, and you may strike down those you 
were longing to assist. But where right and justice, 
beneficence and virtue, stand clear and proclaimed 
unmistakably, in all their living beauty before us, what 
can excuse hesitancy or default in a man arraying 
himself promptly and vigorously on their side, and 
bringing his tribute, great or small, according to his 
powers, in aid of the cause of right and human ad- 
vancement ? 

If the minds of men be not strengthened in well- 
doing by the approbation of their fellows ; if hearty 
recognition and warm support be not freely extended 
to those who are fighting the good fight in the cause 
of humanity, how shall we expect the champions of 
the right to grow in numbers, confidence, zeal and 
strength ? 

And so in this spirit to-day I came hither, bearing 
my tribute of respect and admiration for Asa Packer, 
and to lay upon his tomb the simple chaplet of my 
praise and honor. And yet not for him 

" Can honor's voice provoke the silent dust, 

Or flattery soothe the dull, cold ear of death?" 

No, it is not for the dead, but for the living I would 
speak ; but it is of the dead, and to the living. 



II 

Frame human government as we may, in the mind 
of all who found it, what is the great underlying intent ? 
That power shall be lent to objects of beneficence 
and placed in hands of those only who will use it for 
such objects. And in this land of ours, what is the 
great lever of power ? Public opinion. And how 
shall public opinion be so directed as to bring power 
into the best hands and to work out the best and 
greatest results ? Surely by constantly holding up to 
public respect and example those lives, those virtues, 
those actions, that are noblest, highest and best. 

Such was the example of Asa Packer in this great 
work of his life — the institution and endowment of 
this free university, whose bounties all are invited to 
share, from whose advantages and opportunities none 
were to be excluded; for his generosity of benefaction 
paused not upon state lines, nor upon the baleful re- 
cognition of geographical or sectional divisions among 
his fellow-countrymen; nay, the confines of a continent 
were too narrow for his sense of human brotherhood, 
which recognized its ties everywhere upon this foot- 
stool of the Almighty, and decreed that all were to be 
invited to share in the fruits of his life's long labor. 

It may be accepted as an axiom, that whatever paths 
lead to power and distinction, they will be trodden by 
men who aspire to them, and, to obtain them, too 
many will be found ready even to 

" wade thro' slaughter * * * 
And shut the gates of mercy on mankind," 

and should success await them, their example will be 
imitated ; but when we find a man who would build 
up for himself a throne, not upon the necks, but in 



12 

the hearts of his fellowmen ; whose wealth shall not 
be gold or silver or precious stones, or the spoils of 
conquered enemies, but the glad faces and happy 
homes, the grateful hearts of men, women and chil- 
dren, not those alone who may cluster around him, 
but of the thousands who shall never see his face, 
but whose voices shall swell the chorus of his fame, 
" far on in summers that we shall not see," then 
indeed we have an ambition, whose gratification is a 
world-wide blessing, whose presence is like the gra- 
cious smile of nature herself, the roses in whose crown 
bear no thorns, and whose sweet beginnings know no 
bitter consequences. 

If we raise statues for the brave and gallant men, 
who have died for us in battle, should we not equally, 
or even more fervently perpetuate and honor the 
memory of those who have lived for us? This thought 
was better uttered by another: 

"The courage we desire and prize is not the courage to die 
decently, but to live manfully. This, when by God's grace it has 
been given, lies deep in the soul ; like genial heat, fosters all other 
virtues and gifts • without it they could not live. In spite of our 
innumerable Waterloos and Peterloos, and such campaigning as 
there has been, this courage we allude to, and call the only true 
one, is perhaps rarer in these last ages than it has been in any 
other since the Saxon Invasion under Hengist. Altogether extinct 
it can never be among men ; otherwise the species man were no 
longer for this world : here and there, in all times under various 
guises, men are sent hither not only to demonstrate but exhibit it, 
and testify, as from heart to heart, that it is still possible, still 
practicable." 

Asa Packer did not act under the sudden and 
splendid impulse that leads men to "seek the bubble 
reputation at the cannon's mouth," but he dedicated 



13 

deliberately, steadily, and, through long years, pain- 
fully, the fruits of his whole life, of his intelligent 
and steady labors — all were given, slowly, surely, 
thoughtfully, to help his fellowmen. And so he is the 
true hero, and therefore well may we stand to-day as 
those who follow us in life shall come on this day in 
every succeeding year, with uncovered heads and 
grateful hearts, to thank God that he sent such a man 
into this world, and endeavor faithfully to imitate his 
example, and lend our influence to the same great 
ends for which his life was lived. 

It would be a task of fruitless repetition for me to 
recite the simple, but interesting and important events 
of Mr. Packer's life and career, and how he became a 
pioneer of Pennsylvania's wealth and power ; all this 
has been done with thoroughness and ability by abler 
hands than mine ; by those who knew him and held 
close communion with his life, whose associations in 
daily-life, in the ties of personal friendship and re- 
ligious charge gave them opportunities of knowing 
and describing the man as he lived and moved and 
had his being, in such a way as almost wholly is 
denied to me. For it was never my good fortune to 
know Mr. Packer personally ; his good name and the 
echo of his good deeds had often reached me in my 
home in another state, but until I read the able and 
impressive memorial discourse delivered here on the 
first Founder's-Day, one year ago, by Bishop Howe, I 
had not comprehended, in anything like its just pro- 
portion, the worth and excellence of this good and 
true man. 

That a man who owed much to learning, whose 
habits and associations of study, and abstraction from 



14 

the practical duties of life, should dedicate his powers 
while living-, and his property by mortuary bequest 
to the cause of education and learning would seem 
natural, because literary research and study would 
have been the rule and habit of his life, his second 
nature, and the acquirement of knowledge the pole- 
star of his devotion. The love of books, the taste for 
literature, the recognition of their value, are all to be 
expected of the scholar and student, and the endow- 
ment of libraries and colleges and schools of learning 
by the learned, would seem natural, for it is only a 
just rendition of benefits received ; but here was a 
man who owed little directly to the study of books, 
and who had neither the pretension nor taste to be a 
student, a man 

" Whose life was work, whose language rife 
With rugged maxims hewn from life." 

It was such a man, so capable of living out of himself, 
who designed and devised, unselfishly, and not in 
pursuit of any mere personal taste or hobby, a broad 
scheme of liberal beneficence of which no superior 
example is known to me in any land or time. 

Our republic has just cause of pride in the public- 
spirited and open-handed benefactions of her sons. 
The roll of honor of the votaries of " Good will to 
men," is already long and illustrious with American 
names — of the dead and of the living. We hang 
garlands of grateful memory upon the tombs ot 
Girard, Peabody, Lenox, Astor, Hopkins, Packer, 
Rush and Vanderbilt. 

Still we are permitted to greet with affection and 
respect the venerable faces of Corcoran and Cooper, 



i5 

and pray they may long be preserved, to enjoy by 
reflection the happiness they have conferred upon so 
many others; and here in the valley of the Lehigh, 
the name and presence of Pardee awakens grateful 
acknowledgment. 

Chairs of learning and scholarships are established 
by private munificence in our colleges ; libraries are 
endowed, and collections of literature, and art treas- 
ures follow each other in rapid and admirable suc- 
cession — and the good work of giving goes on to 
build up the walls of the great university of which 
Christ himself was the founder. 

In this spirit so constantly evinced, so beautifully 
illustrated, I see our best hopes for the future of our 
country, for the counteraction and alleviation of the 
desolating heats of party politics, and the preservation 
and perpetuation of those free institutions of govern- 
ment which have permitted and largely assisted private 
benefaction on so princely a scale. 

Under the arrangements of society in some countries, 
public wealth and governmental powers are by law 
committed to the control of royal hands and privi- 
leged classes — coupled as they ever must be with 
the implied trust that they are to be used for public 
welfare. In such a condition of affairs, private indi- 
viduals may feel that as members of a society so 
organized they are free to live for themselves, apply- 
ing their private gains to their own uses, and leaving 
to official hands the duty and responsibility of relieving 
the needs of the weaker and less fortunate in the com- 
munity, who must ever constitute so large a portion of 
it ; but under our republican system, the duty of the 
individual and private citizen is palpable and emphatic, 
and nobly has that appeal been responded to. 



i6 

What finer figure can adorn the canvas of history ? 
What living sermon can more impressively address 
itself to human ears than a true portraiture of this 
young American, emerging from an obscure home in 
New England, compelled by narrow fortune to seek 
on foot a habitation in a distant state where he com- 
menced his life's work in the primeval forest, and 

" The modest wants of every day 
The toil of every day supplied," 

— and then, as the wealth of nature unfolded itself in 
the store-house of minerals, so long concealed beneath 
the surface of the earth, how his prompt and sagacious 
comprehension of the capabilities, the possibilities, the 
marvelous realities that lay around his Pennsylvania 
home all grew upon him ; how he studied and solved 
the problem of transporting the vast supplies of coal 
and iron of Lehigh Valley to the centres of the world's 
manufacture and consumption. And dealing thus with 
sagacity, vigor, foresight and steady industry, he aided 
the great gifts of nature to unroll themselves from the 
fountain head and pour their flood of wealth into the 
lap of the country's commerce. 

And when this splendid and dazzling vision of 
material wealth, and all the power and opportunity 
that wealth gives to its possessor, were before him 
and were his, it was then, that tried by no ordinary 
temptation, perplexed by no ordinary demands, the 
solidity, integrity, elevation and true refinement of the 
man's nature were disclosed. He remained true to 
himself. The elation and ostentation that wealth 

suddenly acquired oftentimes produces ; the awkward- 
ness in act and speech with which the sudden 



i7 

transition from poverty to wealth is apt to be marked, 
were never to be observed in him. Plans for politi- 

cal eminence and domination, in which the debauching 
influence of money plays so large and sorrowful a 
part in American politics, allured him not. He went 
into public service in the councils of the nation dili- 
gently, efficiently and purely, nor did he ever, in the 
pursuit and acquisition of wealth, forget his duty as a 
citizen of the republic in taking an interest and exer- 
cising a just influence in the affairs of government. 

The artificial arrangements of human society, which 
we term civilization, are even at their best so filled 
with inconsistencies and admitted injustice, that when- 
ever we witness any well-devised and strongly-executed 
attempt to adjust the equities between classes or 
individuals, and remedy the partialities of fortune and 
political favor, a sentiment of genuine satisfaction is 
experienced which cannot be silenced, and the expres- 
sion of which becomes a duty as well as an intense 
pleasure. 

And, in the grand illustration supplied by this insti- 
tution of learning, this splendid instance of heaven- 
directed bounty, how clear a recognition have we of 
the capacity of our institutions to permit and supply 
the one great and possible equality in government 
among men — the equality of opportunity — a phrase 
I have used before, and which seems to me to furnish 
a complete definition of the limited and sole capacity 
of laws to place men in just relations to each other. 

This great truth seems to have been fully compre- 
hended by Judge Packer, and this University is the 
grandest and the noblest act in the line of that 
thought that this country or any other has witnessed ; 



i8 

for, when the founder's mind had formed this scheme 
of education, he made its advantages absolutely free — 
free to all. Any youth of good character, though 
clad in "hodden-gray," and with patched shoes, or 
none at all, who comes to this gate, shall have it 
opened at his knock ; and finding at a minimum cost, 
food and lodging, shall have his faculties educated, 
his intellect instructed, his whole mental and moral 
nature strengthened, fully equipped and prepared for 
the great battle of life, on any field of endeavor which 
he may select as suited to his capacities — without cost 
or fee. 

In the contemplation of such a gift as this, who 
shall not feel proud of his citizenship in common with 
such a man, and of the country which produced him, 
and whose institutions have permitted him to reach a 
point of power where he could freely and untrammeled 
carry into execution such plans for the public good ? 

Some years ago I saw in the ancient city of Magde- 
burg in Germany, a quaint old church of rude but 
majestic construction, upon which the stress and wear 
of centuries had settled. Just above its main entrance 
and midway to the roof there was a niche in which 
stood a figure carved in stone, of a blind man led by 
a dog, and I learned that this was the monument of 
the humble but earnest founder of the church itself, 
who had traversed the country and spent his life in 
soliciting alms by means of which the walls of the 
church had slowly been erected. Death overtook 

him while his pious work was yet incomplete, but his 
singular devotion had aroused attention, and, touched 
by his story, other hands were enlisted and hearts 
awakened to carry out the plans he had commenced ; 



19 

and soon the sacred pile rose, and the imposing edi- 
fice reached its full height of architectural completion, 
and then, not unmindful of the founder, they caused 
his image to be carved and placed at that point to 
which his labors had brought the work. That poor 
man did his best and gave his all in the erection of 
a building dedicated to the God of the poor as well 
as of the rich, and midway his power was arrested. 

We stand here to-day under the portal of an edifice 
more imposing, and there is no carved image to 
mark a check in any stage of its progress, but the 
entire structure constitutes in itself a monument to 
the founder who was so blessed in his endeavors and 
grew richer in giving. 

"Si monumentum requiris, circumspice." 

And yet, while admirably appointed buildings arise 
on every hand, and solidity and architectural beauty 
are here combined, even this work is not complete: — 

"Through wisdom is a house builded and by understanding is 
it established." 

The task of establishment must continue from genera- 
tion to generation, to be entrusted to hands capable 
of comprehending and carrying out the great objects 
of its founder. The work this University was 

intended to accpmplish will never be complete ; it 
will flourish ever in immortal youth ; the growth of its 
usefulness will never cease. Each wave of young 

manhood that shall pass out of its portals, to fulfill 
life's work, will prolong the great idea of him who 
founded it. Every youth who here gains the 



20 

benefits of education and its elevating influences, will 
be but another votary and witness to attest the never- 
ending increase of the glorious harvest of human 
happiness and advancement of which Judge Packer 
sowed the seed. 

In founding this University, Judge Packer seems to 
me to have appreciated the necessity of antagonizing 
the materialism of our age and country, by the cultiva- 
tion of ideals, and to create an offset to mere wealth 
by scholarship and to lack of fortune by learning. 

There must be in every community the means of 
higher education. Educated classes are essential — 
not classes to whom the opportunities for education 
are confined, but classes intellectually capable of being 
educated for the higher grades of mental exertion. 

It is from classes of men so educated and mentally 
endowed, that the professions, upon which are re- 
posed the most important trusts of society, are to be 
supplied. The "learned professions," as they are 
called, religious instruction, law, medicine and science 
- — trustworthiness in these classes is a necessity to 
society as a whole. And the high service or terrible 
injury of which they are capable, can scarcely be 
exaggerated. 

The study required for these professions necessitates 
protracted labor; and to their professors and practi- 
tioners are necessarily in a large measure entrusted 
the protection of the lives, fortunes and welfare of 
their fellowmen. 

What shall protect the community against the abuses 
of so great power? Nothing but the high sense of 
the responsibilities and the conscience of the coun- 
selor, religious, legal, medical or scientific. 



21 

The long years of study that are required to fit men 
for these tasks, tend to the perception of truth; and 
truth being of Divine origin, men who sit and study 
patiently in its light are surely apt to be touched by 
its Divine influence ; and hence the great and neces- 
sary trusts of society are safer in the hands of those 
who by long study and habit have been elevated to 
their work. 

It seems to me that Judge Packer affords in his 
career a most practical and satisfactory solution of the 
great problem of our day, as to what are the true 
relations of capital and labor. He was during all 

his life, in its fullest sense, a laborer ; and he was for 
the greater portion of his life equally a capitalist. 
Who can designate that period in his career when 
his interest as a laborer was merged in or controlled 
by his interest as a capitalist ? In the history of his 
life, therefore, we may read the perfect and blending 
consistency of interest and co-ordinate progress, of 
labor and capital ; and at the end of his career we 
find his capital, which was only the accumulation of 
his labor, returning to bless and benefit those who 
like himself, originally, have no capital except their 
labor. 

In the contemplation of his life from this point of 
view, how interesting and valuable an answer it fur- 
nishes to those sophistical or mischievous individuals, 
who w T ould seek to establish an antagonism between 
the rich and the poor, the employer and the employed 
in this country ! 

I have spoken of the ever-opposing forces of good 
and evil, the conflict of which is always going on in 
human society, — and how the simple citizen whose 



22 



great foundation of beneficence we to-day commem- 
orate, represented the compensating and repairing 
forces of benevolence and good-will. And, in dwelling 
upon his life and services, I am forcibly reminded of a 
kindred spirit in another land, which took its flight 
from earth about three years before Judge Packer's. 

George Moore was a warehouse-man of London — 
without rank or titled connections, or official power — 
but whose energy, liberality and unselfish devotion to 
the cause of the poor and helpless, resulted in the al- 
leviation of an amount of human misery that was truly 
marvelous. To-day his monuments are scattered 

over England in the commercial-traveller schools, 
ragged schools, churches, museums, libraries, reforma- 
tories, refuges, homes for orphans, hospitals and 
benevolent associations — which were the outgrowth 
of his energetic bounty — and the great legacy to his 
countrymen and to the whole world is the undying 
example of his life. 

Paris was besieged by the German forces in Sep- 
tember, 1870, and the scanty supply of food in the city 
was soon exhausted. 50,000 horses were consumed 
for food, and cats and dogs, rats and mice were soon 
very scarce. Fuel gave out, and with the winter 
weather the death-rate advanced with frightful rapidity 
— sick persons and young children being the natural 
and earliest victims ; at last starvation did its work, and 
towards the end of January, 1871, Paris surrendered. 

But while the forces of war and devastation were 
thus exhibiting their fearful powers, and the hearts of 
the conquerors were glowing with the gratification of 
military victories and historical revenges, the counter 
forces of peace and good-will were not idle, and had 

L.cfC. 



23 

kindled their mild flames in the breasts of George 
Moore and his English associates, who were anxiously 
awaiting the signal when they could begin their work 
of charity to the sufferers in Paris. 

A fund of ,£120,000 was raised in London, and on 
January 31, 1871, George Moore and a few chosen 
companions started for Paris on their errand of 
mercy. 

After some unavoidable delays they were enabled 
to enter the unhappy city with the first train of food 
for the famishing and impoverished people. The 
work of distribution commenced and a warehouse in 
a central position was secured ; and then were dis- 
closed scenes of misery too painful for my repetition, 
which war "and man's inhumanity to man" bring ever 
in their train. Suffice it to say, the work of mercy 

was done, and done well, and in the year following, 
one of the lasting and permanent victories of mercy 
and kindness was attested, when the Commune raised 
its horrid head, and once more France "grew drunk 
with blood to vomit crime." 

The frenzied mob set fire to most of the conspicuous 
buildings, but when, torch in hand, they approached 
the warehouse which had been the depot of Moore's 
bounty, and were reminded that it was the building 
of the "Anglais" who had brought food to starving 
Frenchmen, even their wild hearts were softened by 
memories of his unselfish kindness, and they passed 
on, and also spared for his sake the neighboring 
church of Notre Dame de Victoire. After this 

an Englishman riding in the streets of Paris with a 
Frenchman observed the latter raise his hat in pass- 
ing this warehouse, and was told this mark of respect 



24 

was still paid to their English benefactor by those who 
knew its history. 

I doubt if George Moore of London, and Asa 
Packer of Pennsylvania, ever were known to each 
other, and the reflection is full of regret, for I can well 
imagine the mutual joy and sympathy that would have 
filled their hearts. There was much of resemblance 
in the characters and careers of these two noble men. 

Each commenced life in poverty, and by hard work 
gained an independence that soon broadened and 
deepened into affluence. Each grew rich in propor- 
tion as he gave to others — and in Moore's pocket 
book were found the words— 

"What I spent, I had; 
What I saved, I lost; 
What I gave, I have ; " 

and if these words were not written in Judge Packer's 
book, they surely were upon his heart, and "what he 
gave," he has now. 

What was said of George Moore when he died, may 
well be said of Asa Packer : 

"There are thousands who feel that life is sadder, and the 
world poorer because he is no longer in it." 

It is well that this anniversary, "the Founder's-Day," 
should be kept. It is good for us ; it will be good for 
those who shall come after us, to turn aside from the 
heat and dust of daily struggles, ambitions and pur- 
suits, to breathe the pure and caller air of these halls, 
to contemplate deeds of unselfish liberality, and learn 
the lessons they contain. 

If our scheme of popular self-government in this 
land shall fail, and go down amid the lamentations 



25 

of all good men, still will this University stand an 
eloquent witness of the efforts of one true and gen- 
erous soul to make republican government successful 
on its only possible foundations, of widely diffused 
intelligence and moral and intellectual elevation. 



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